Tie allows Lakes to control own fate

Updated: March 22, 2011 5:28PM

Trailing 2-0 at halftime, Lakes High's boys soccer team turned the beat around in the second 40 minutes and kept its hopes of playing in the North Suburban Conference Championship Game alive by earning a 2-2 tie with Round Lake on Tuesday.

Although only 6-8-5 overall while playing against some of the top schools in the Chicago area, the Eagles are now 3-0-2 in the NSC Prairie while Round Lake finished at 4-0-2.

A Lakes win against lowly Vernon Hills today would give the Eagles and Panthers identical 4-0-2 division marks.

Lakes, however, can earn the Championship Game berth with a win that includes three Eagles goals, thanks to tiebreaker specifications on total team goals in division matches.

The division winner will face NSC Lake Division winner Warren next Tuesday for the NSC title.

On Tuesday, nobody on either side was wondering about tie-breakers at the half.

Round Lake (13-1-5) appeared firmly in control and on the way to winning the title in undisputed fashion, thanks to Panther goals by sophomore Mauricio Salgado (11th of year) and the team's top scorer, Jordi Rubio (16th). In addition to the two that got past Lakes goalie William Hill, Round Lake put seven other shots on frame to just one by Lakes.

"I just calmly told our players at halftime not to lose faith in themselves," said the oft-times vociferous Kevin Kullby about his team's turnaround. "I told them we can get back in the game and they did just that. I'm happy the way we came back. It demonstrated the type of character this team has."

The attitudinal reversal was apparent in Lakes from the start of the second 40 minutes. Less than two minutes in, leading scorer, junior Jon Stanley, had a great chance that was saved by Round Lake goalie Luis Leon.

The Eagles broke through with 30:52 left when a slow pass somehow dribbled through three Panther defenders in the middle where Stanley slammed a point-blank shot that was saved by Leon, who could not stop the rebound from junior Tom Langbein. It was Langbein's fifth goal of the season.

Stanley tied the contest with his ninth goal of the year with 22:36 left on a gorgeous cross from Eagles freshman playmaker Brian Werchek.

Both teams had several other scoring opportunities in the remainder of the contest, which increased in intensity as the clock wound down. Overall, however, Leon of Round Lake was forced to make four second-half saves to just one for his counterpart, Hill.

"They certainly came out with confidence in the second half and looked like the winning team," said Round Lake coach Hugo Tellez of his opponents. "You have to give them credit. We just played flat in the second half."

The Panthers did, however, have their chances. A Round Lake shot following the first Lakes goal went off the crossbar. A defensive block by Panther Jose Garcia led to a breakaway with 13:16 left, but his one-on-one shot was off frame.

Lakes countered with even more opportunities, including a shot that went off the near post and two hard shots that were turned away by Leon in the last two minutes.

Both teams and coaches expressed frequent displeasure with the work of the two referees, who worked one man short until eight minutes remained in the game.

The second Round Lake goal came after a pushing penalty in the goal box that was hotly disputed by Lakes, resulting in a penalty kick.

"Having three refs would have helped out a lot," said Tellez. "It's never any good when both sides are always yelling at the refs."

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